manlike creatures with huge velvety bat-wings—bowed as I climbed the steps. The heavy wooden door, just like the gates below, opened for me without a word or a touch. I took a deep breath and walked inside.
If the outside of Morpheus’s home was impressive, the inside was breathtaking. The floor of the main hall was golden marble, the walls alabaster, with delicate arches that rose to the ceiling—a good forty feet above my head. Classical sculptures lined the walls, and the glass in the windows shimmered like fine crystal.
In the middle of this grandeur stood a man and a woman. She was average height, slim and brunette, with a smile that belonged in a toothpaste commercial. She was dressed in a crisp white blouse, jeans, and mules. He was tall and well built in boots, jeans, and a gray cashmere sweater. He was rugged-looking, with thick dark hair touched with auburn, and aqua blue eyes. My eyes.
“Uh…” I cleared my throat. “Hi.”
“My baby!” My mother’s dark eyes filled with tears, and she launched herself at me. I staggered back from the force of her exuberance. I didn’t want to hug her, but she was clinging to me so tightly, and there was this burning in the back of my eyes…
Morpheus stayed where he was. Maybe he and I were more alike than I thought because he seemed to know that I wasn’t ready for the big homecoming. My mother, on the other hand, probably knew this as well but just didn’t care. She was just happy to see me.
I wish I wasn’t so happy to see her. I mean, it was good, but all I could think about was how there were people back home in Toronto who had given up on living just to watch this woman sleep. Thinking of them, brought the anger back, and I dropped my arms, standing stiffly until she released me.
She eyed me sadly. I was unmoved. I was, damn it. “I suppose I deserve that,” she said.
I met her gaze. “I suppose you do.”
“You’re a little bit old to come home just because you want something,” Morpheus announced, his voice as low and cool as a shadow. “Aren’t you, Dawn?”
He was obviously the one from whom I got my pride—and my bitter streak. I looked at him, saw myself in the strange blue of his eyes, the bit of red in his hair. “I wouldn’t be here at all if you were doing your job.”
My mother gasped and my…Morpheus’s jaw tightened. I guess people didn’t take my father to task very often.
“What would you know of my ‘job’?”
“I know that one of your creatures is hurting people.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I was one of them.”
And in that second, his expression went from mulish to anguish, then to something murderous that, I admit, had me shaking a little.
“Explain.”
I did—and fast. I told him about Karatos—what It had done to Noah, and some of what It had done to me. I just couldn’t bring myself to admit to him that I had been so totally helpless. I told him that It was suspected of killing people, but I didn’t tell him about Antwoine. If Morpheus really did hate the old guy, I didn’t want that to stop him from stopping this thing from hurting any more people.
Morpheus seemed more concerned about what this thing had done to me and about the fact that It had been outside the gate when I arrived. “If It thinks to anger me through you, It is right.” The lines of his face were harsh and unforgiving. I wouldn’t want to be Karatos when the God of Dreams caught up to him. “I will find It and destroy It.”
My shoulders sagged. “Thank you.”
“On one condition.”
My gaze jerked to his. WTF? “This thing of yours ra…beat me”—my mother winced at my raised voice—“and you have a condition?”
He stood tall and straight, and the gaze that met mine had no mercy in it. This was the King of Dreams. He was timeless, a god, and that side of him bowed to nothing, not even his own child.
“Karatos is not my thing,” he informed me, as if that mattered. As though all the hurt it had
If the outside of Morpheus’s home was impressive, the inside was breathtaking. The floor of the main hall was golden marble, the walls alabaster, with delicate arches that rose to the ceiling—a good forty feet above my head. Classical sculptures lined the walls, and the glass in the windows shimmered like fine crystal.
In the middle of this grandeur stood a man and a woman. She was average height, slim and brunette, with a smile that belonged in a toothpaste commercial. She was dressed in a crisp white blouse, jeans, and mules. He was tall and well built in boots, jeans, and a gray cashmere sweater. He was rugged-looking, with thick dark hair touched with auburn, and aqua blue eyes. My eyes.
“Uh…” I cleared my throat. “Hi.”
“My baby!” My mother’s dark eyes filled with tears, and she launched herself at me. I staggered back from the force of her exuberance. I didn’t want to hug her, but she was clinging to me so tightly, and there was this burning in the back of my eyes…
Morpheus stayed where he was. Maybe he and I were more alike than I thought because he seemed to know that I wasn’t ready for the big homecoming. My mother, on the other hand, probably knew this as well but just didn’t care. She was just happy to see me.
I wish I wasn’t so happy to see her. I mean, it was good, but all I could think about was how there were people back home in Toronto who had given up on living just to watch this woman sleep. Thinking of them, brought the anger back, and I dropped my arms, standing stiffly until she released me.
She eyed me sadly. I was unmoved. I was, damn it. “I suppose I deserve that,” she said.
I met her gaze. “I suppose you do.”
“You’re a little bit old to come home just because you want something,” Morpheus announced, his voice as low and cool as a shadow. “Aren’t you, Dawn?”
He was obviously the one from whom I got my pride—and my bitter streak. I looked at him, saw myself in the strange blue of his eyes, the bit of red in his hair. “I wouldn’t be here at all if you were doing your job.”
My mother gasped and my…Morpheus’s jaw tightened. I guess people didn’t take my father to task very often.
“What would you know of my ‘job’?”
“I know that one of your creatures is hurting people.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I was one of them.”
And in that second, his expression went from mulish to anguish, then to something murderous that, I admit, had me shaking a little.
“Explain.”
I did—and fast. I told him about Karatos—what It had done to Noah, and some of what It had done to me. I just couldn’t bring myself to admit to him that I had been so totally helpless. I told him that It was suspected of killing people, but I didn’t tell him about Antwoine. If Morpheus really did hate the old guy, I didn’t want that to stop him from stopping this thing from hurting any more people.
Morpheus seemed more concerned about what this thing had done to me and about the fact that It had been outside the gate when I arrived. “If It thinks to anger me through you, It is right.” The lines of his face were harsh and unforgiving. I wouldn’t want to be Karatos when the God of Dreams caught up to him. “I will find It and destroy It.”
My shoulders sagged. “Thank you.”
“On one condition.”
My gaze jerked to his. WTF? “This thing of yours ra…beat me”—my mother winced at my raised voice—“and you have a condition?”
He stood tall and straight, and the gaze that met mine had no mercy in it. This was the King of Dreams. He was timeless, a god, and that side of him bowed to nothing, not even his own child.
“Karatos is not my thing,” he informed me, as if that mattered. As though all the hurt it had
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